A NATO spokesman said Monday that the Alliance has committed to provide the Afghan Army and Police Force with modern weaponry

Tony White, a NATO spokesman in Kabul called on the international community to increase their support for training and bolstering the Afghan forces.

He also announced that NATO has launched a new mission to train and support the Afghan Army and police.

“NATO is taking on a much bigger responsibility when it comes to training Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police,” Mr White said.

“Just a few days ago we launched a new mission called NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan and it is where we are going to focus all of our attention on trying to train the police and the army,” he added.

“So that one day Afghan national security forces can look after their own security - that is what NATO wants.”

The programme parallels President Hamid Karzai’s commitment that the Afghan forces should take the lead in the next five years, with international troops playing a supporting role in Afghanistan.

The statement came as US President Barack Obama nears his decision over sending more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by Gen Stanley McChrystal.

As the Taliban-led insurgency is causing high casualties among foreign forces, there have been calls for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Currently there are more than 100,000 forces from 43 countries in Afghanistan, with 68,000 of them American.

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